Tag: Tire Springfield

It happens to all of us at one point in time. We get into an automobile collision and need the best auto body shop in Springfield. Hopefully, it is not too bad and we are not seriously injured. But usually the car does not fare as well and comes away with significant damage.

What is the next step after your collision and you need an auto body shop?

Likely, after informing the insurance company you take your vehicle to one of their “approved” vendors.

Here is what happens next. You tell the insurance company what company you choose. By this time they have already taken phones of the car and know how extensive the damage is. If you need an expert to take a look, make sure you go to a repair shop in Springfield.

They have a computer system that gives them a printed estimate stating what the replacement parts and labor will be based upon a set hourly rate.

This statement is given to the body shop. It comes with a break down of what the labor and parts “should” be and the company has to usually be able to totally fix the car for that price.

How to Spot a Scam Auto Body Shop

Keep in mind that what is printed out represents the best case scenario and doesn’t allow for items on the car that was missed or problems that come up.

Now here are some things to watch out for. a local auto body shop in Springfield is operating under very, very thin margins and the incentive to “cut corners” is huge. Getting an extra $300 off a job can really add up over the course of the month when you are talking about doing at least 3-5 vehicles every week.

How to Find Auto Body Shops

Replacement Parts in Auto Body Shops

Make sure the parts being used on your car are OEM parts. These are replacement auto body parts in Springfield are sent directly from the car manufacturers and are designed with the same specs as the vehicle came with.

Aftermarket parts can be significantly cheaper yet are not the same quality and make not hold up the same in the event of another accident.

No Realignment? Talk to Your Auto Repair Team!

The frame is usually somewhat bent when a car goes through an accident of any kind. It needs to be properly realigned. You need a serious all hands on deck auto body shop to take care of you here.

Unfortunately, because the money made off one car can be very little the propensity to skip this step is very high. Later down the road this will cause your car to not drive straight but at a tilt and your tires will wear prematurely. So if you need to brush up on some tire repair, ask your mechanic straight away.

Using Bondo (Fillers) Instead of Replacing the Part

Filling any damage in with bondo is not bad in itself. If you know what the auto body shop in Springfield is doing, they tell you, and this is what you are paying for then it is fine.

The problem comes in when you think you are getting a vehicle back that is 99.9% the same as before it was wrecked and it is not. Filling a damaged part in with filler rather than replacing the expensive part is a common tactic and you want to make sure it is not done on your vehicle.

Mechanics Veto Extending Oil Changes

All damaged parts should be replaced unless you are paying a lower price for the car to just be fixed (in the case you want the cheapest price and do not care about having a car exactly the same as before). Again, you should really speak to your best auto body shop nearest you!

Keep in mind that most auto body repair shops are honest and are surviving in a tough industry.

rev up your engines, today I'm gonna showyou how to spot a scam body shop before you get towed into one and it's too late,okay it happens to everyone eventually you get in an accident, then you have tohave your car towed to a body shop, the last thing you want is to be in anaccident be knocked around and then the tow truck guy comes and you let himdecide where to tow it, you want to know a good body shop beforehand, then writeit down and put it in your glove box so you'll have it at hand or put it on yourphone, because by law at least here in the United States you get in a wreck, youhave the right to pick wehatever body shop you want to fix your car, nobody canforce you to go to one place, but you have to understand, when the tow truckguys come, they generally get big kickbacks if they got a nice big wreckand they tow it to the body shop that they're affiliated with, they will getfive hundred a thousand maybe even more money for bringing that vehicle to thatbody shop, so you want to have one ready that you trust to say, no tow it here andif you don't know one, you still have the right to have it towed to your house, allthe insurance companies will tow it to your house then later they can tow it toa body shop, don't worry about that you just want to send it to a good job andnot just somebody who's being paid to ship your car off because they getkickbacks, so how do you find out if a body shop is a scam body shop or areally good one well you got to do a little researchhere, unless you live in Houston Texas then you can just ask me, who I use, I don'ttake any kickbacks I've sent many many customers to body shops and never took adime back from their repairs, I just want my customers to get their cars fixedcorrectly, I don't do bodywork so it's no skin off of my nose,and speaking of equipment you got to make sure that the body shop you pickhas a good paint booth, paint boots are giant areas that are completely sealed,so there's no dust they control the humidity for painting, it's veryimportant for getting body work done right, you don't want to have somebodypaint in your car that doesn't have a very good paint booth, try spray-paintingsomething outside, you're gonna see gets on it, hair everything, you got to have aplace that has a good paint booth and you have to have professional guysworking there who know how to blend paint and match it to the color of yourcar, because take a look at this, you can easily tell this bumper has been repaintedit's a completely different shade than the top of the car that wasn't painted, Imean look at that, you can see here's the one that's been repainted, it'scompletely a lighter color here it was not blended correctly, the paint doesn'teven match, so your visitor bodyshop say hey show me a car where youpainted part as a car, see if it matches and if it doesn't they're not any goodat blending paint, go someplace else and speaking of painting bumpers, check thisout this bumper was painted by a guy whodidn't even know what kind of paint to put on the car, realize that theseplastic bumpers are exactly that, they are plastic it requires a special kindof paint with a special bonding agent in order for it to stick, if you use regularcar paint that you put on the hood and put it on the bumper,guess what, it flakes off like this car did, whoever painted this bumper theyhad no notion about how to paint plastic bumpers, they shouldn't be in the bodybusiness and another big thing to check is the body shop area itself, if likethese cars all sitting all over the place they got tons of them looks likethey're busy, go back in a few weeks the same cars are sitting there, that's justa scam that guys use, I used to work for a guy like that years ago, he had all these junkcars and it would sucker people to come in and he wasn't fixing any of thosecars, you see all their stickers are out of date, some of them don't have licenseplates on them, don't go to a place like that cuz odds are, they're gonna takeforever to fix your car and may not even do a good job, because realize one thingbody shop work, it comes and it goes it's not a continuous thing, cars they breakdown all the time it's pretty continuous cars you're always breaking you got tofix them, but car wrecks they occur kind of randomly, so a lot of times these guysdon't have much business at all so if they're one of those guys thataren't that honest, they'll take your car in and say, oh it'll be ready in three days,another car comes in they're gonna make more money, they drop yours and then theyjust work on the car they're making more money, I've seen guys have cars and bodyshops for months for this reason, ask around, other people who theyuse and anybody who says that guy took forever to fix my car,don't go there, you find a guy like me I don't do bodywork, I do mechanical workbut my whole thing was, if people got here by 8:00 in the morning by 5:00 inthe afternoon most of the work I did on most of the cars were finished, I wantedto do stuff that we're in and out fast my customers were happy, they told peopleabout me, I never spent a nickel advertising because all my customerstold everyone about me, and of course you want a place that's been in business alot, but here's the kicker, you gotta do a little bit of research because I had aguy he was a great body man, but as he got older, he made a son take over theshop and his son had no interest in doing bodywork on cars really, so it'stime went on, I used the guy for a decade and a half, but then when a son took overI sent customers there they could bring the car over to me and I'd look at themand you could see scratches from the sandpaper that they didn't make smoothand paint it over so it had permanent scratches in it, you got to make surethat the person who's running to place cares about what his shop puts out andhere's where the Internet can really help you out a lot, because of peoplehave crappy bodywork done and it doesn't look right, they're gonna complain on theInternet, so if you do a research on the guy and you see, there's complaintsall over the place about this guy then you'd think, I'm not gonna go thereI'm gonna go somewhere else and although I'm always trying to save people moneyhere, don't go too cheap with bodywork you see those ads when I was a kid itused to be we'll paint any car for you know 59.

95 now it's like 200 or 300dollars, you're not gonna get a very good paint job of your car for that kind ofmoney these days, I had my old Celica done like five years ago at one ofthose places and you can see the paint's flat, it just doesn't hold up, to do agood paint job costs a lot of money to paint the entire car and speaking of agood shop a good shop handles all insuranceclaims, you don't do anything, if they say we want some money up front, you gosomeplace else, the good ones they all use insurance companies where they callit up, they handle all the paperwork if there's a problem they call up theinsurance company and say, look we just pulled off the bumper and found out thatthere's more damage underneath, then they can send a guy to look to make surethat's the truth, you don't have to get involved in the actual repair, and like anything you pretty much have to feel out the shop, as peoplein Texas have always said, you don't want a guy who's all hat and no cattle, or when Iwas younger in New York, hey you don't want the guy who's got the motorcyclejacket, but he doesn't have the motorcycle, there's plenty of good body shopsout there, you just have to find them, but since people are always getting in wrecks, heythat's your friends, see cars that were wrecks that they had fixed, look at it closelyand look at it in the Sun when the sun's shining, because the human eye we can seemillions of different varieties of colors, you can see hey wow that wasfixed really well or hey that doesn't match at all or there's paintthat's bubbled up or you look at the fender the guy replaced and parts ofthe gaps or half an inch and other parts are an inch and a half gap, you knowthat place does lousy work and don't go there and when you do find a good bodyshop hey, pass the word of mouth around go on the internet tell people, tell yourfriends about it, because if you find a good body shop, you tell other peopleabout it, they're going to continue to do good work, especially when they say, heyJoe sent me, they don't want Joe to get mad because if he's telling a bunch ofpeople how good they are and he does lousy work, they know they're gonnalose business and if they don't have to spend me advertising money like I neverspent, that's more money in their pocket and less money out of yours that's payingfor the body shop and the advertising, so take a tip for me and find a good bodyshop before you get in a wreck, because it's often too late then and you'll bestuck towed to some place where everybody's getting kickbacks fromeverybody else and the work is relatively shoddy,so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos, remember toring that Bell!.

Secrets of the Auto Body Shop

The insurance companies nickel and dime them at every turn and they are made to give them at time ridiculous discounts to get any business. That’s why having an auto body shop in your corner can’t be stressed enough.

Nevertheless, all an auto body shop should be on is your side and corners should not be cut at your expense and being watchful is just a smart way to go.

Your Auto Body Shop In Springfield Should Help You With What Car Needs Exactly?

How many times have you been in this situation: You are owed money on a construction project and are thinking of filing a mechanic's lien. But you know that after filing it there will begin a serious dispute process, and probably involving the hiring of lawyers on each side. You would like to send a notice to the other side telling them that if it is not paid, more serious steps will be taken. Well, there is a form to be used in this situation. In my experience, this is a very popular form--so much so we would like to make it available to the construction industry.This form below warns the owner that you will be filing a mechanic's lien if payment is not made within ten days. Hopefully, it will create a serious dialogue for settlement. Come up with your bottom line amount to settle and be prepared to offer it to the owner if he or she is negotiating in good faith. Remember that the last thing an owner wants is a lien on their property: it jeopardizes title, interferes with their relationship with the construction lender, and prevents refinancing or sale. This Notice is worded in a non-threatening manner so as to capitalize on this situation, with the owner knowing that you are required by law to file a lien within a set period of time or lose your lien rights.WHO CAN USE THIS FORM? All persons, whether general contractor, subcontractor, or supplier.HOW TO SERVE: There is no need to file this with the court or record with the recorder's office. It is simply served by mailing.WHO TO SERVE: If you are a general contractor, serve the owner and construction lender. If you are a subcontractor or supplier, serve the owner, general, and construction lender.HOW TO SERVE: Although not required, it is recommended for its effectiveness to be served by certified mail.WHEN: Serve ten days before you file or record the mechanic's lien. Remember, it does not extend the time to file a mechanic's lien.NOTARIZED? No.COPIES: The original signed copies are served. Keep an extra copy for your records.CERTIFICATE OF MAILING. Use a standard Proof of Service form. Sign this Proof (it is like a certificate of mailing) and staple it to the form so you have proof it was mailed to the various persons or entities.MARGINS AND FONT. This is a Word document so use the following margins so it prints out properly: Top: 18 pt; Bottom: 22 pt; Left: 58 pt; Right: 58 pt. Type size is 12.HOW TO USE? Cut and paste the form into a new Word document.WHICH STATES?Use this notice only in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.As to California, you can use it until further notice. California is in the process of amending its mechanic's lien statutes which will require a specific notice. Check our web site for that new form.SAMPLE FORM STARTS HERENOTICE OF INTENTION TO FILE A MECHANIC'S LIEN (General) (This is not a Mechanic's Lien, nor a reflection on the credit of any contractor)__________________________________________________________________________________ Via Certified MailTO OWNER:_________________________________________________ (name(s))________________________________________________ (address--no. and street)________________________________________________ (address--city, state, zip)FROM GENERAL CONTRACTOR:_______________________________________________ (name(s))_______________________________________________ (address--no. and street)_______________________________________________ (address--city, state, zip)______________________________________________ (fax/phone)Please take notice that the undersigned lien claimant intends to file a Mechanic's Lien against your property if payment is not made for moneys owed as follows:PROJECT NAME: __________________________________________________________________________________PROPERTY SUBJECT TO LIEN (common street address or other description): __________________________________________________________________________________(1) General description of construction services furnished by Lien Claimant: _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________(2) Amount due: Through _________ (date) is $ _____________ after just credits (total performed, with extras of $ ___________ , less payments of $ ____________ ). Unpaid invoice(s) attached. Attorney's fees and court costs will also be requested.The above-described work was provided to your property, at your instance, by the Claimant. If payment is not made within ten days (10) of receipt of this demand, Claimant intends to file a Mechanic's Lien, without further notice. If you have any questions or wish to make payment arrangements, please call immediately to discuss.Dated: ____________________________________________________________ (Signature and Title)